It is widespread practice in the medical field to collect specimens such as blood samples or specimens of other fluids and tissues from patients at one location, such as a doctor,s office and then conveying the collected specimens to another site, such as medical laboratory, removed from the specimen collecting site, for analysis and diagnostic study. Such specimen typically include a glass vial containing the blood sample or other fluid and is commonly accompanied by documentation which identifies the patient from whom the sample was taken and specifying the analysis or study to be performed on the specimen.
Currently, the specimen is often placed together with documentation, such as a laboratory request form, in a plastic bag which keeps the documentation together with the specimen for correlation to the corresponding patient, and also to an extent protects both the documentation and the specimen against lost and damage.
A significant shortcoming of current practice is the possibility that the vial containing the fluid sample may leak in the bag, staining the laboratory request form or documentation bearing the patient name and identification. If the patient,s identification is rendered unreadable as a result, a considerable delay may occur until the physician realizes that no laboratory report has arrived for the particular sample. By then, it is necessary to obtain a new specimen, which requires the patient to again visit the specimen collection site and undergo unpleasant collection procedure. The result is unnecessary delay, inconvenience and added expense to the patient. In a worst case scenario, the delay, in an apparently routine medical examination, may be substantial enough so that a diagnosis is made at a point in time where more difficult of medical treatment becomes necessary for the patient, and where prognosis for recovery might be less favorable. In addition, stained documentation accompanying the specimen may be a source of possible contagion to personnel who handle the documentation, if the specimen contains contagious organisms.
A continuing need exists for a dependable, easy to use and economical disposable bag for conveying medical specimens between two sites which will avoid the aforementioned difficulties and shortcomings of bags used for this purpose at this time.